Where Has The World Gone? (A Walking Dead Fan Fiction) (DarlyOC)
by inlovewithjuicey
Summary: When the world begins to end the only thing that Daryl and Ashley can do is stick with the group. Will they be able to juggle their relationship and the end of the world? Between having to worry about their daughter, Aliyah, and having to worry about each other will their emotions bring them to the breaking point in their relationship?
1. I'm Sorry

The Walking Dead is owned by Frank Darabont, I don't own any other characters except Ashley and Aliyah. I am only using them for writing purposes. And I don't own some of the things that will happen in this story and a lot of the dialogue. Most of this come right from the TV show.I made things that go in between the thing that happen in Season 1 and Season 2.

Chapter One: I'm Sorry

The camp was silent as we all heard the sound of the CB radio;. I sat in the corner my younger sister leaning against me in one of the many lawn chairs that we had. I brushed her blonde hair out of her face over and over again watching my mom and my daughter, Aliyah, as she kept her entertained. When we heard the CB we all jumped up. Amy and I were the first ones to get the radio. The first voice we had heard since everything had happened.

My boyfriend, Daryl, and I had barely gotten out with his brother Merle and Aliyah and had barely gotten to my mom's house in time to get her and my sister out, along with my asshole of a stepfather. I was also fortunate enough to find my brother Glenn. Glenn was Korean, but he was adopted. My father had adopted him when my mother and him had split up.

They were the first words we had heard from someone that wasn't a member of our group, "Hello? Can you hear my voice? Hello? Can anybody hear me?" Amy ran over and grabbed the speaker for the CB radio.

"Hello?" She pushed her long ultra blonde hair behind her ear.

The CB brought us back the answer. "Can you hear my voice?" The man sounded disoriented, like he was in a hurry to find something.

Amy pushed down the button and spoke back. "Yes, yes, I can hear you, you're coming through..." She paused. "Over."

"If anybody reads this please respond. Broadcasting on emergency channel, will be approaching Atlanta on highway 85. If anybody reads please respond." Clearly we didn't have a very good connection, he couldn't hear us.

"We're just outside the city." Amy tried desperately to warn him, we knew that the city was no good, it was overrun and we already had some people out there. "Dammit." The radio went static. "Hello?" She tried again.

Dale put his hand on Amy's shoulder. She looked up at him. "He couldn't hear me, I couldn't warn him Dale."

"Try to reach him again." Dale looked over at Shane. "Come on son, you know best how to work this thing, get over here."

Shane looked up and stopped what he was doing. When he reached the log that the CB was sitting on he slammed the ax into it and picked up the radio. "Hello, hello, is the person who called still on the air?" He waited a second before speaking again. "This is officer Shane Walsh broadcasting to person unknown, please respond." He stood up and wiped his hand across his forehead. "He's gone."

Lori looked up at Shane with a concerned but hopeful look. "There are others, it's not just us."

"We knew there would be, right? That's why we left the CB on."

"A lot of good it's been doing." Lori had a load of sarcasm on her voice. "I've been saying for a week that we need to put up signs on 85 to warn people away from the city."

Amy spoke up. Her voice sounded a little reluctant, she didn't want Shane to snap at her. "Folks got no clue what they're getting into."

Shane shot back before she was even done talking. "Well we haven't had time."

I looked over at him. "Shane, I think we need to make time."

Shane never seemed like he liked me much, I wasn't sure why. "Well that's a luxury that we can't afford, we're surviving here, we're day to day."

Dale looked over at me. "And who the hell do you suppose we send?"

Lori spoke up when I opened my mouth. "I'll go, give me a vehicle."

"And you know I'll go with he-" I was cut out.

Shane started to raise his voice. "Nobody goes anywhere alone and you know that."

"She wouldn't be going alone, am I not a person?"

"Just drop it you two." Shane picked up his ax again.

Lori turned around with a sigh and began to walk away, leaving behind a faint. "Yes sir."

That night was rough for a lot of us. I needed Daryl there with me, I hated sleeping alone and he had been gone all day long, so I cuddled up with Aliyah to try to calm my nerves. He was one of the main reasons that I was even able to sleep. I walked out the next morning and sat next to Lori with Aliyah on my lap as she waited for Amy to come back from looking for mushrooms. When she showed up we both sighed with relief.

Lori smiled at her. "Any luck?"

Amy showed her what she had inside the bucket. "How do we tell if they're poisoned?" She handed the bucket to Lori and took Aliyah's hand, playing with her.

"Uh, there's only one sure way I know of." Lori chuckled to herself.

I smiled at her. "Ask Shane when he gets back?"

"Yea, you got it." She looked up at Amy. "Thank you."

When everyone got their lunch and finished eating Amy, Aliyah, and I sat around a small fire, it was windy out during the day and there weren't many ways to stay warm. I was freezing even huddled up in Daryl's giant Cabela's sweatshirt that he used to go hunting. "How much longer do you think we can keep this up?" I broke the silence.

Amy pushed her hair behind her ear and looked up from her hands. "I don't know, I don't like this. Especially with my sister being gone."

"I don't even like the fact that Daryl is out in the woods alone, I can't even imagine what you're feeling with your sister being out there." I always let my worrying get the best of me. Daryl was an amazing hunter and an amazing tracker; he learned everything that he knew from his dad and Merle. "Merle and Glenn are out in the city too, but Merle and I… we're not as close and I know that he'll be alright, he definitely knows how to take care of himself. Glenn on the other hand, he's fast, but he's not as tough as Merle. I told him to watch out for him." I let a tear fall from my cheek. I just wanted the three of them to come back, especially my big brother.

"At least you've got someone that can look after you; you've got your mom, your sister, and your daughter here still, there's no way you could be alone." Our gaze went from each other over to my sister, my mother, and my step-dad, and then down too little Aliyah. She was only eight months old, this wasn't exactly the life I had wanted for her.

I sighed. "The only reason my mom and my sister are here is because I made Daryl take me there. He didn't want to at first, but then I reminded him of Sophia." I chuckled. "Sophia and Aliyah have got him wrapped around their little fingers."

I hadn't heard any of us laugh in the longest time but Amy let out a huge laugh. "She's a cute little girl." She grabbed Aliyah's hand and shook it a little, then tickled her belly, listening to her giggle. "And so are you."

I walked over to Dale with Amy later than night and stood in front of him, not saying a word until he looked up at us. "It's late, they should have been back by now." Dale knew just who Amy was talking about.

He itched his forehead that was hidden under his hat. "Worrying wont make it any better."

"Daryl should be back by now too, I think we need to send someone to look for him." I could hear the panic in my voice.

"He's a good hunter and he's a big guy, he can take care of himself. I'm sure he'll be here soon Ashley."

I could feel the tears coming on so I turned around and walked over to Sophia and sat down next to her. Her and Aliyah crawled over to me and buried themselves into my arms. "What's wrong Ashley?" Sophia looked genuinely concerned. Aliyah crawled farther up into my lap and I kissed the top of her head, listening to her say "Mama." over and over again and bouncing..

I hugged my free arm around Sophia and pulled her closer. "I'm just worried about Daryl; he should have been back by now. Glenn and the group should be back by now too."

My mom walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder, the most I have gotten out of her in years, ever since she had married my step-dad, Ed, we hadn't had much of a relationship. "I'm sure he's fine Ashley, he's the best hunter and the best tracker I know. Both of those boys are, him and Merle. Have some faith in your boyfriend and have a little in your brother, he's a fast kid."

"Mom, they're the only hunters and trackers that you know. That explains everything." We all chuckled a little.

Sophia kissed my cheek and looked into my eyes. "He's okay, Ash. I promise."

"I promise he'll come back to you baby girl." My mom kissed my forehead and then the top of Aliyah's head, rustling her hair, and walked back over to help out the others to clean dishes and clothes.

I had moved out of my moms house and in with Daryl as soon as we got together, my house had not been a friendly house since Ed had moved in.

By the next afternoon we had caught signal from the group that was out in the city. "Base camp, this is T-Dog to base camp. We're trapped in the department store, there's geeks, hundreds of them , surrounding us." While Dale picked up the walkie and talked to him we all talked over what we were going to do.

Lori looked up at Shane. "He said the department store, we know where that is." No one said anything for a little while. "Shane." Lori looked like she was ready to plead with him.

"No way, we do not go after them, we do not risk the rest of the group, you know that." Shane sighed.

Amy began to panic. "So we're just going to leave her there?""

I began to raise my voice. "Merle is out there and so is Glenn, I don't care how many of us don't like Merle, he's out there. If he doesn't come back Daryl is going to tweak, and then we're going to have our hands full. We can't just leave them there Shane. If my brother doesn't come back because you left them there it's gonna be your ass."

"Look girls, I know that this is not easy-" Shane was cut off.

"Andrea, Merle, and Glenn volunteered to go, they volunteered to risk their lives for us so that we could have everything that we needed." I looked Shane directly in the eyes.

"I know, and they knew the risks right? They're trapped, they're gone, so we just have to deal with that, and we'll handle Daryl, don't worry about him. There's nothing else we can do."

"She's my sister you son of a bitch." Amy stomped off and I followed behind her saying only a couple words to Shane. "Merle and Glen are important to this group too, asshole."

When I walked away I went straight to Aliyah and my mom. Aliyah stood on my lap and held onto me around my neck.. "It's okay Ashley, they'll come back and then Merle will be back for both you and Daryl." My mom took my hand and squeezed it.

At the fire that night I took Shane off to the side. I couldn't sit here any longer and worry about Daryl. He was out in those woods and I had no idea if he was okay. "Shane, what are we going to do about Daryl? He should have come back by now.

"I'm sure Daryl is fine Ashley."

"Well what if he isn't? What if something happened to him?" I was beginning to sound panicky.

"If he doesn't come back he doesn't come back. I don't know what to tell you Ashley. We can't risk anyone out there." Shane sounded annoyed with me.

I began to yell at him, putting my face directly in his, grabbing his shirt with my fist. Everyone began to circle around us. "He volunteered to go and try to get food for us and now that he hasn't come back in a few days we're going to just sit here on our asses and do nothing about it?"

Shane broke my hand away from his shirt and turned around walking away, muttering under his breath. "I'm sorry."

I could barely sleep that night. I knew that Daryl was out there, I knew that there had to be something wrong, something very wrong. It wasn't like him to stay gone for this long. I snuggled up even closer to the dog.

Daryl and I had been able to get our dog out and he was one thing that the geeks wouldn't touch, we had that tested when we went to my moms house. Rocket was a Pit Bull; he was a blockhead Pit Bull which meant he was way bigger than he should be. We didn't need to keep him on a leash seeming as he followed Daryl and I around constantly. Daryl got him for us on our first anniversary and he had been with us since, four years now. He had his head lying directly next to Aliyah's when we all finally fell asleep.


	2. How Do We Get In And Out?

When Sophia climbed out of the tent that she stayed in she walked over to Daryl and I's. She knows how much I hated to sleep alone, I shared a room with her until I moved in with Daryl. When she came in Rocket perked up and his tail started to move a mile a minute. Sophia noticed that I had been crying. She came over and laid on the bed with me. I slowly ran my fingers through her hair and Rocket moved over to lie on her legs. "Do you think Daryl will be here soon Soph?"

Sophia looked up at me. "I think so, he'll be here soon. I bet his misses Aliyah."

Suddenly we all heard an alarming sound. I got out of the bed as fast as I could and grabbed Aliyah, running over to Dale. He was posted on the roof of the RV, looking through his binoculars, like always. Sophia ran out behind me, followed closely by Rocket and I grabbed onto her hand with my free one. Sophia let go and grabbed Rocket's collar and sat with him, stroking his dark brown fur.

Shane came running over. "Talk to me Dale."

"Can't tell yet."

Amy ran over and grabbed my arm that Sophia had let go of, putting one of her hands on Aliyah's back. "Is it them, are they back?"

Dale raised his eyebrows and put the binoculars down. "Well I'll be damned." He put them back up to his face.

"What is it?" Amy yelled.

"A stolen car is my guess."

I instantly perked up. Merle flashed through my mind, stealing a car seemed like something that he would do. "Then they're back, it has to be them, Merle is pro at hot-wiring cars." I wrapped my arm around Amy and held onto her as the car finally pulled up.

Glenn's face flashed through the windshield, it may not have been Merle but it meant that everyone was okay. I let go of Amy. "Glenn!" I ran over to him and flung myself into his arms; Rocket ran over and jumped up, barking at him. He knew who was a threat and who wasn't. Glenn kissed Aliyah's cheek and then mine.

"Holy crap, turn that thing off." Dale hollered over the sound of the alarm.

Glenn let go of me and flung his arms up. "I don't know how."

Glenn was surrounded by Amy in seconds. "My sister, Andrea."

Shane kept trying to speak over Amy. "Pop the hood."

"Is she okay?"

"Pop the hood please."

"Is she alright?"

"Pop the damn hood please."

"Is she alive, is she alright?"

Glenn was overwhelmed and reached into the car, popping the hood. "Yea, yea, she's okay, she's okay."

"Is she coming back?"

"Yes." Glenn was definitely getting annoyed.

"Then why isn't she with you? Where is she? She's okay?" Amy was full of questions, Glenn could barely speak.

"Yea, yea, fine. Everybody is… well… Merle not so much."

My eyes grew wide and I grabbed his arm, spinning him around to look me in the eyes. "Woah, woah, woah, what? What happened to Merle? Where is he?" They all completely ignored me.

Shane cut me off. "Are you crazy driving this wheeling bastard up here? Are you trying to attract every walker for miles?"

Dale looked over at Shane. "I think we're okay."

"You call being stupid okay?"

"Well an alarm like that echoing all over these hills, it's hard to pinpoint the source," Shane gave him a dirty look. "I'm not arguing, I'm just saying." He looked over at Glenn. "And it wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time now would it?"

Glenn hung his head. "Sorry… I got a cool car tho…"

I turned around and walked toward the camper, I needed to figure out how I was going to tell Daryl that his brother didn't come back with the rest of the group. I sat in one of the chairs and called Rocker over. He sat in front of me and I set Aliyah onto the ground. Rocket let her climb onto him and pull him to the ground to cuddle with and I held my head in my hands until I heard Carl yelling.

"Dad!"

I looked up from where I was sitting to see a man standing across the way, holding onto himself as well as he could as Carl made a beeline for him, Lori was right behind him. The man lifted up Carl and let himself fall to the ground, crying as hard as I had ever seen anyone cry. The man lifted Carl into the air and grabbed Lori, I had never seen her so happy. When I looked over at Shane I saw him let a few tears escape from his eyes and I walked over, resting my head on his shoulder.

The fire that night was a little tense. The man was named Rick, he was an old cop, Shane's partner. He was shot and put into a coma and had woken up to find himself in this mess. "Disoriented, I guess that comes closest… disoriented...fear, confusion, all those things. But disoriented comes closest." Rick was telling us about what it was like to wake up in this.

"Words can be meager things, sometimes they fall short." Dale had his arm around me and Aliyah in his lap; I was leaning into his shoulder.

"I felt like I had been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else, for a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from… ever."

Carl looked up at his father, he was laying on his lap. "Mom said you died." He stroked Rockets head, he was lying in his lap. Everyone at the camp loved him.

"She had every right to believe that, don't you ever doubt that." He kissed Carl's forehead.

Lori looked over at Rick. "When things started to get really bad they told me that they were gonna evacuate you and all the other patients to Atlanta and it never happened."

"Well I'm not surprised after Atlanta fell, and from the look of it the hospital was overrun."

Shane looked up. "And looks don't deceive, I barely got them out."

Rick's eyes got watery. "You know, I can't tell you how grateful I am to you Shane, can't begin to express it."

The boys didn't speak and Dale broke the silence. "There go those words fallen short again."

We all looked over when we saw my step-dad get up and add another log to the fire that my mom, sophia, and him were surrounding.

Shane was always the one to hold down the fort. "Hey Ed, you wanna re-think that log?"

Ed looked up. "It's cold man."

"Cold don't change the rules does it? We keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said its cold, mind your own business for once."

When Shane stood up and walked over I rolled my eyes. "Here we go."

It was silent until we watched my mom take out the log and Shane stamped the fire on it out, crouching down in front of my mom and Sophia to say goodnight. He looked back at Ed. "Appreciate the cooperation.

Shane sat back down and Dale looked around at all of us. " Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?"

I snorted. "Oh, I've given plenty of thought on that, he's been gone three days and no one has given a damn enough about him to go searching."

"I'm talking about regards to Merle, he won't be to happy to hear his brother was left behind."

T-dog sighed. "I'll tell him, I dropped the key, it's on me."

Rick looked up. "I cuffed him, that makes it mine"

Glenn put his head in his hands and raised his voice. "Jesus Christ, it's not a competition, I don't mean to bring race into this, but I think it might sound better coming from a white guy. I know him."

"I did what I did, hell if I'm gonna hide from it."

Amy put her hair behind her ears. "We could lie."

Her sister, Andrea, spoke up. "Or we could tell the truth."

I was beginning to panic, something I was very good at by now. "We're not going to lie about Merle, that's bad karma and if he found out we were lying, we're all in deep shit."

"Merle was out of control, something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed." Andrea looked over at Lori. "Your husband did what was necessary and if Merle got left behind it is nobody's fault but Merles."

I snorted again. Andrea and I didn't always get along. "Right." She shot me a dirty look.

"And that's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from this. Word to the wise, we're gonna have a hands full when he gets back from his hunt." Dale looked over at me.

"If he comes back…" I choked on my last words.

Shane shot at me. "This negative crap isn't helping matters any Ashley."

There was silence for a few minutes and then T-Dog spoke up. "I was scared, I ran, I'm not ashamed of it."

"We were all scared, we all ran. What's your point?" Andrea looked over at him with intense eyes.

"I stopped long enough to chain the door. The staircase is narrow, maybe a half a dozen geeks can squeeze through at one time. That's not enough to break through there… not that chain, not that padlock. My point… Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed to that roof, that's on us." T-Dog got up and walked slowly to his tent.

"Then we've got to go and get him!" I practically yelled it.

"The place is surrounded Ashley, how do we get in and out without losing people?" Shane looked over at me and rolled his eyes when he saw my face was completely dead.


End file.
